Death wobble
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 79
Likes: 0
From: Los Angeles
Well, feathering the rear can help if you do it correctly. Stomping on the rear, well... not so good. Grabbing front brake mid-turn will stand you up at slower speeds, but most likely cause a high-side and launch you into orbit at higher speeds.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,976
Likes: 49
From: Northern California
I agree with this and I "play" a lot when riding. Using the rear brake in corners is one of them. Used properly the rear brake in a corner could help you. Applying too much sure causes the bike to hop ! I want to know how the bike and I are going to react in less than ideal situations and I firmly believe that all my "playing" over the years has saved my bacon more than one time.
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 345
Likes: 27
From: Ohio
The letting go for a straight line wobble is just a way to use an extreme example that you should loosen the death grip that the wobble causes when it starts plus it forces you to drop throttle. Still not applicable to a death wobble in a curve no matter what Jay says IMHO
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,336
Likes: 67
From: SW Minnesota
I've ridden bikes with pronounced misalignment of the front and rear wheel. While the bike traveled ****-eyed or dog-tracked going down the road, I never found it to induce a wobble. Honestly, I don't see or know of any reason it would. Not saying it can't, just that at the moment, I still have yet to see a good explanation of this claim.
I've had bikes that were prone to wobble. Most of it I was able to trace to weight loading and flex of the mounts. Spindly Vetter fairing mounts, wiggly tail racks, etc. Addressing the weight loading (getting it down lower and closer to the bike) and the accessory mounting flex substantially helped. Since the wobble was a deflection of the front wheel, installing steering dampers and or tightening the steering bearings also helped.
In the case of my own RK, it was the oem play built into the rear swing arm because of the excessive clearance between the swing arm bearing inserts and the swing arm shaft. The drive belt masked this play with its tension, making it undetectable until the belt was slacked. In fact this elastic tension may well have made it worse in the turns, as the swing arm could be deflected against the belt tension, only to rebound against it as well.
I've also watched races with bikes going into death wobbles for reasons I do not know. It does seem to have an almost inherent aspect involving high speeds. Sometimes the bike and or rider recover, other times it goes into a tank slapper and ends in a crash.
I've had bikes that were prone to wobble. Most of it I was able to trace to weight loading and flex of the mounts. Spindly Vetter fairing mounts, wiggly tail racks, etc. Addressing the weight loading (getting it down lower and closer to the bike) and the accessory mounting flex substantially helped. Since the wobble was a deflection of the front wheel, installing steering dampers and or tightening the steering bearings also helped.
In the case of my own RK, it was the oem play built into the rear swing arm because of the excessive clearance between the swing arm bearing inserts and the swing arm shaft. The drive belt masked this play with its tension, making it undetectable until the belt was slacked. In fact this elastic tension may well have made it worse in the turns, as the swing arm could be deflected against the belt tension, only to rebound against it as well.
I've also watched races with bikes going into death wobbles for reasons I do not know. It does seem to have an almost inherent aspect involving high speeds. Sometimes the bike and or rider recover, other times it goes into a tank slapper and ends in a crash.
The above link will take you to a magazine article from 2005 posted on True-track's site, that explains what happens when lateral forces in a turn (curve) compress the rubber mounts and misalign the rear wheel, inducing the wobble caused from rear steering. The whole purpose of any of the many add on stabilizers is to prevent that from happening. But if your bike's powertrain is misaligned horizontally to start with, you will always have rear steer. Lean into a curve and that misalignment can be magnified by the lateral forces compressing the mounts.
This past Sat. I road with 7 other guys, I hate to say two Victories were ahead of me along with a Glide and a Heritage. We hit a left hit a left hand marked 50mph at 70, everone went through like they were on rails. My 05 Electra Glide went into a violent wobble that put me right up to the graveled shoulder. I let off some and trie to hold her into the turn, looked real bad for a bit. I was thinking this is really going to hurt, hope I don't get paralyzed. By leaning real hard I made it. The guy behind me on another Heritage pulled up on the side of me and said what the hell was that. I said death wobble, he said it was close to being just that, he didn't think I was going to make the turn. Scdared me real bad, rode the rest of the way home like everyone else except didn't try the hot turns, don't know if I ever will. The wind was blowing, don't know if that was a factor on the batwing.
After we came to a rest stop my buddy who was behind me asked, "what the ef was that"? I knew right away what the cause was as another buddy of mine mentioned this death wobble to me.
I have since ordered a True Tracks for my 07 SERK and will install it on the next long road trip I take.
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